Thursday, October 08, 2026

NFL Week 5 Picks

Week 5 of the 2026 NFL season kicks off tonight, and doubt that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will beat the Dallas Cowboys. My picks:

  • Dallas Cowboys beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  • Jacksonville Jaguars beat Philadelphia Eagles
  • Houston Texans beat Tennessee Titans
  • Cincinnati Bengals beat Miami Dolphins
  • Las Vegas Raiders beat New England Patriots
  • Minnesota Vikings beat New Orleans Saints
  • Cleveland Browns beat New York Jets
  • Pittsburgh Steelers beat Indianapolis Colts
  • New York Giants beat Washington Commanders
  • Chicago Bears beat Green Bay Packers
  • Denver Broncos beat Los Angeles Chargers
  • Detroit Lions beat Arizona Cardinals
  • San Francisco 49ers beat Seattle Seahawks*
  • Baltimore Ravens beat Atlanta Falcons
  • Los Angeles Rams beat Buffalo Bills*
Upset picks are marked with an asterisk, and there may end up being a third to go with the two marked above (as of this writing, the Raiders/Patriots game is at 50/50 among players of ESPN's Pick'em game; I'll try to remember to add the asterisk if that changes in favor of the Pats). If I change any of my picks, the changes will be made before kickoff and specifically noted in an update to this post.

NFL Week 4 Results

My Week 4 NFL picks -- green means I got it right, red means I got it wrong:

  • Pittsburgh Steelers beat Cleveland Browns
  • Washington Commanders beat Indianapolis Colts*
  • Buffalo Bills beat New England Patriots
  • Chicago Bears beat New York Jets
  • Jacksonville Jaguars beat Cincinnati Bengals*
  • New York Giants beat Arizona Cardinals
  • Philadelphia Eagles beat Los Angeles Rams*
  • Green Bay Packers beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  • Baltimore Ravens beat Tennessee Titans
  • Houston Texans beat Dallas Cowboys*
  • Minnesota Vikings beat Miami Dolphins
  • Kansas City Chiefs beat Las Vegas Raiders
  • San Francisco 49ers beat Denver Broncos
  • Seattle Seahawks beat Los Angeles Chargers
  • Detroit Lions beat Carolina Panthers
  • New Orleans Saints beat Atlanta Falcons
Nine right, seven wrong, one better than last week. I'm 39-25 for the season and in the 88.2nd percentile among players in the ESPN Pick'em game.

Wordle 1937 Hint

Hint: Scatter (as a wedding's "flower girl" does with rose petals).

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle below.

New to Wordle? You can play it at the New York Times, and here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.






First Letter: S